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according to multiple media reports, recently, shanxi taiyuan preschool teachers college (hereinafter referred to as taiyuan preschool college) issued a number of announcements on the introduction of doctoral students and public disclosures on admissions, which once again sparked public controversy over the mass introduction of "water doctors" (also known as "water phds") by universities, and related topics quickly became hot searches on multiple platforms.

earlier in 2022, the news that "hunan shaoyang university spent more than 18 million yuan to introduce 23 phds in philosophy from adamson university in the philippines" caused widespread controversy.

taiyuan preschool education college is a full-time public ordinary preschool education college. image source: school official website

upstream news combed through public reports and found that this is not the first time that taiyuan preschool teachers college has introduced (recruited) a large number of "career-based" phds. in january 2022, the school issued an announcement to recruit 11 "career-based" phds and 22 masters at one time. local media reported that "promoting the upgrading of taiyuan preschool teachers college to an undergraduate college" was written into taiyuan's "14th five-year plan and outline of the long-term goals for 2035".

the school denies "carrot recruitment"

judging from the public announcement of taiyuan preschool college, most of the 10 talents the school plans to recruit are doctoral students who graduated from southeast asian countries, such as adamson university in the philippines, assumption university in thailand, shinawatra university in thailand, etc. their majors include art, chinese language and literature, management, sports and exercise, and education.

the public announcement of the second batch of doctoral students of taiyuan preschool college in 2024 has caused controversy. image source/school official website

some netizens questioned whether the above-mentioned positions were created based on personal preference or whether they were “recruited through arbitrariness”, or whether the non-staff personnel on campus were given talent introduction treatment by “gilding” their education abroad. “is the southeast asian ‘water expo’ making a comeback?”

on september 24, the school's office staff denied the above doubts. the staff said that it was only the interview (not interview) results announcement stage, and there were a series of follow-up procedures to be carried out. "we do not set up positions based on personal relationships, and all the publicized real-name doctorates have no connection with the school."

according to the announcement, the school will provide a settling-in allowance of no more than 200,000 yuan to full-time doctoral students who graduated from ordinary overseas universities, and a research start-up fee of no more than 100,000 yuan for science students and no more than 50,000 yuan for liberal arts students.

as for why the doctoral graduates on the public list are mainly from southeast asian universities, a teacher from the school said, "it depends on whether there are people applying... after all, we are a junior college." the teacher also said, "these (qualifications) are also recognized by the ministry of education, and they are all doctoral graduates."

the taiyuan municipal education bureau responded that it was verifying the matter with the school.

upgrading to an undergraduate college is included in taiyuan city's "five-year plan"

the official website of taiyuan preschool college shows that the school is a full-time public ordinary preschool teacher training college approved by the shanxi provincial government in march 2018. it is an important base for training preschool education and art education teachers in shanxi province and taiyuan city. the school currently has 329 full-time teachers, including 1 senior second-level professor, 2 fourth-level professors, 88 associate professors, 10 doctoral students, and 198 master's students.

upstream news noticed that in order to further promote the strategy of "developing the school with talents and strengthening the school with talents", taiyuan preschool college has frequently made "big moves" in attracting talents in recent years, and has publicly recruited doctors, masters and other talents in batches on many occasions.

in 2022, taiyuan preschool college will publicly recruit 11 "career-based" phd candidates. puzzle source: shanxi talent work

in january 2022, taiyuan preschool college announced that it plans to recruit 33 full-time staff in 2022, including 11 phds and 22 masters, who will be employed in professional and technical positions (also administrative) or management positions. the recruited staff will receive a resettlement allowance of 700,000 to 1 million yuan, and a research start-up fund of 100,000 to 800,000 yuan.

in february of the same year, taiyuan preschool college recruited 49 non-civil servant personnel agency talents in short supply from the society, including 46 master's students and 3 undergraduates. the positions included full-time college and administrative counselors, and scarce personnel in kindergartens.

according to information released by the shanxi provincial department of education in february 2018, shanxi planned to establish three higher education institutions that year. among them, the taiyuan preschool teachers college was under the jurisdiction of the taiyuan municipal people's government.

according to a report in taiyuan daily in may 2021, the education section of the "taiyuan city's 14th five-year plan for national economic and social development and outline of the long-term goals for 2035" clearly proposed to accelerate the transformation of higher education to an applied type and "promote the upgrading of taiyuan preschool teachers college to an undergraduate institution."

according to media reports, the school recruited doctoral students in april 2023, february 2024 and august 2024.

the introduction of "water expo" by universities may be related to the evaluation system

several media outlets reported that the reason why taiyuan preschool college's large-scale recruitment of phds attracted so much attention was related to the controversy caused by some universities' previous hiring of a large number of phds who returned from southeast asia.

in 2022, hunan shaoyang university spent more than 18 million yuan to introduce 23 phd students from adamson university in the philippines, which aroused social concern. on july 24 of the same year, the hunan provincial department of education issued a notice on this matter, instructing shaoyang university to correct its improper practices, and the school's party secretary was removed from office.

hunan shaoyang university was ordered to correct its improper practices and its party secretary was removed from his post. image source: hunan provincial department of education

there is a reason why phds with backgrounds in southeast asian universities are called "water phds". the cost of studying for a phd in southeast asian universities is relatively low, and some universities even have quite loose admission and exit requirements. for this reason, phd programs in some southeast asian countries have become a "stepping stone" for some domestic university teachers to evaluate their professional titles, transfer from administrative positions to teaching positions, and upgrade from junior college to undergraduate.

"it is an old problem that some higher vocational colleges have introduced what everyone considers to be 'water phds'. the reason behind this is that the education department and public opinion include using the proportion of teachers with doctoral degrees to evaluate the quality of the teaching staff in their evaluation criteria for schools. in this case, some schools have demands to increase the proportion of doctoral degrees in their teaching staff." xiong bingqi, president of the 21st century education research institute, introduced that in 2006, the ministry of education promulgated the "interim provisions on the establishment of ordinary undergraduate schools", which clearly stated that the proportion of full-time teachers with postgraduate degrees in undergraduate universities should generally reach more than 50%, and the proportion of full-time teachers with doctoral degrees should generally reach more than 20% of the total number of full-time teachers.

southeast asia's "water expo" reveals complete industrial chain

in july 2022, after the news that hunan shaoyang university spent more than 18 million yuan to introduce a phd from the philippines sparked heated discussions, a media investigation found that behind this incident, there is a mature southeast asian "wholesale phd" industry chain. many people have obtained doctoral degrees through shortcuts, with tuition fees ranging from 130,000 to 230,000 yuan, and some tutors even write papers for them "one-on-one".

according to tianmu news, the reporter posed as a university teacher to consult a company called "ivy overseas study" about doctoral studies. "the doctoral programs at universities in the philippines and malaysia are the first choice. there are many applications from these two countries and the fees are also more suitable." the company staff introduced that the cost of studying for a doctorate in the philippines starts at 130,000 yuan, and most are below 150,000 yuan. the study time is about two years, of which 12 months are required to study on campus, and the rest of the time is online teaching. living expenses are relatively economical: living in a 4-person student apartment, the monthly expenses are about 3,000 yuan.

compared with the philippines, malaysia has greater convenience. at present, the cost of studying for a doctorate in malaysia is about 200,000 to 230,000 yuan, and the course time is three years. students can study during winter and summer vacations without leaving their jobs. the above-mentioned staff member said, "we will provide students with a dedicated chinese translator and arrange a second tutor to help you complete the 100,000-word paper, including the final publication of an sci core journal." "each student will be equipped with a dedicated tutor to provide a 'one-to-one' service."

with the huge demand for doctoral students, many consulting agencies have also sensed business opportunities. a consulting agency headquartered in hangzhou revealed that the company was founded five years ago and has opened branches in four cities across the country. southeast asian doctoral business has become one of its main businesses. the company provides convenience to students in terms of teaching and writing papers. "for example, in order to help students write papers, we will set up exclusive 'paper service groups' and 'paper guidance groups' for students. the tutors will write the papers for them, and the students can also follow up the progress in real time."

southeast asian universities have relatively loose requirements for dissertations. one agent provided services for a doctoral program at a university in the philippines, which mentioned, "full-time teaching assistants, assignment guidance, and course tutoring." the agent said that completing the above items would ensure a successful graduation.

the online rumor that "no phds from southeast asia are recruited" has not been confirmed

in april this year, rumors circulated online that "some universities will no longer recruit phds from southeast asia" and "the qualifications of phds from southeast asia will not be recognized in the evaluation of professional titles." relevant screenshots show that a provincial normal college in jiangsu province clearly stated during recruitment that "phds must be 40 years old or younger, and southeast asia, japan, south korea, etc. are not considered." another screenshot shows that a university notified that "from now on, in principle, phds who graduated from universities in southeast asia, south korea, etc. whose academic disciplines are not competitive and have insufficient development potential will not be recruited."

however, the two screenshots above do not clearly indicate where they came from. some media outlets have sought confirmation from relevant universities, and they have all said that they will not discriminate based on the university where a doctoral student graduated from, and that the specific decision will be based on the information submitted.

many second-tier universities and vocational colleges that are currently recruiting phds said that they would not select based on the school, and would not mind southeast asian universities, but would make decisions based on individual circumstances. a staff member of the personnel department of a well-known university in beijing said that neither recruitment nor professional title evaluation excludes southeast asian phds, at least there is no explicit regulation for now.

how to prevent colleges and universities from recruiting large numbers of “watered-down phds”

xiong bingqi, president of the 21st century education research institute, said that universities that introduce poorly reputed quick-trained "water phds" are clearly not really concerned about quality, but are instead seeking to increase the proportion of teachers with doctoral degrees, the so-called "doctoral content". to curb this kind of quick success and quick profit "doctoral teacher training" and "doctoral introduction", it is necessary to adjust the evaluation system for universities and classify and evaluate universities.

"to truly build a high-quality, professional teaching team, we must break the academic qualification-only mentality." xiong bingqi said that in august this year, the central committee of the communist party of china and the state council issued the "opinions on promoting the spirit of educators and strengthening the construction of a high-quality, professional teaching team in the new era", which clearly required the promotion of teacher evaluation reform, highlighting educational and teaching achievements, and focusing on evaluating teachers based on their abilities, performance and contributions. we must resolutely overcome the phenomena of focusing only on scores, academic advancement, diplomas, papers, and titles, and promote developmental evaluation.

at present, some higher vocational colleges do have certain difficulties in attracting high-level talents. "schools should adhere to their own positioning, not blindly pursue the so-called high-end, and not "only focus on academic qualifications" in the construction of the teaching staff." xiong bingqi believes that the evaluation system of classified management should be improved, especially for local undergraduate colleges and higher vocational colleges. as non-research universities, they should focus on teaching ability and attach importance to promoting the construction of a high-quality teaching staff by improving the actual teaching ability of teachers.

in addition, the ministry of education’s study abroad service agencies should also adhere to strict and high standards for overseas academic degree certification, leaving no room for quick-fix “water phds” and maintaining the recognition of doctoral degrees from overseas institutions.